Abstract: There are a number of NE-trending faults in the Subei basin, some of them may be late Quaternary active faults. Whether there are active faults that may cause surface rupture is of great significance to the seismic fortification of the newly-built Yan-Tai-Xi-Chang-Yi railway project and whether to take engineering fault-resistance or avoidance measures. Based on the shallow seismic exploration in Yancheng and Taizhou, this paper studies the Quaternary activity of major NE-trending faults in Yancheng and Taizhou, and obtains the following understandings: the Yancheng-Nanyangyan Fault and the Nanyang Fault are distributed in the strong depression area of ​​the neotectonic structure, and control the Neogene and Quaternary deposits. The main fault is inclined to the north, and reverse faults are simultaneously developed in the shallow part to form a "Y"-shaped fault combination. These two faults are active faults in the Late Pleistocene, with high seismic risk, and have the tectonic background for earthquakes of about M6.5. The seismic fortification of the Yan-Tai-Xi-Chang-Yi railway project needs to consider their influence as the seismogenic structure of destructive earthquakes. The latest active age of the intersection of the Chenjiabao-Xiaohai fault and the Taizhou fault with this railway line is the Middle Pleistocene. In the shallow part, both of them are composed of two normal faults dipping north, respectively forming the shovel faults in the southern margin of the Gaoyou Depression and the Qintong Depression, and has no significant impact on the Late Quaternary strata. Based on the analysis of shallow seismic exploration results and the geological data, no active faults are found within the scope of the railway line, so it is not necessary to consider the influence of surface dislocation of active faults on the railway line.